ABACUS
Suggested CA Retail $400
ZD Wines • 8383 Silverado Trail • Napa, CA 94558 • (800) 487-7757 WEB http://www.zdwines.com • e-mail: Info@zdwines.com
ABACUS
Abacus is a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon unlike any other produced in the world. The wine is best described as a solera style blend of every ZD Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon ever produced.
Why Abacus?
On a family retreat, ZD’s then Winemaker, Robert deLeuze, and his brother, Brett, were enjoying an incredible old Cabernet Sauvignon. As they discussed the wine, their feeling was that the deep complexities and subtle nuances that older wines grow into is unfortunately accompanied by a loss of fruit. What if there was a way to blend the beauty of an older Cabernet Sauvignon with the intensity of fruit found in younger wines? They decided to try and create a wine that leads the palate on a journey from the first sip to the last lingering swallow. To achieve a level of complexity, depth and fruit intensity that would be unique to Cabernet Sauvignon they decided to create a “solera-style” wine: a wine that combines old and young vintages.Beginning with the 1992 vintage, ZD started holding back in barrel a small amount of each vintage of Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley. In July of 1999, after years of blind tastings and countless blending trials, Robert decided on the final blend for the first bottling of Abacus. The wine included vintages 1992 through 1998 of ZD Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Fifteen percent of the total blend was bottled into beautiful custom-made bottles, totaling 200 cases. The remaining 85% of the seven vintage blend was returned to barrel where it would await the next infusion of youthful fruit. For the second bottling, the 1999 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon was added to the blend. Again 15% of the wine was bottled and the remainder of the now eight vintage blend was returned to barrel. This is the ongoing cycle of the ever-evolving solera-style wine; every year Abacus will increase by one vintage. As it becomes increasingly complex Abacus continues to be an expression of creativity guided today by the hand of CEO, Robert deLeuze and Winemaker, Chris Pisani. Abacus is truly a legacy to all future ZD winemakers. The deLeuze family named the wine Abacus after the ancient counting device. Attached to the neck of every bottle is a medallion with an embossed Abacus to identify the first and last vintage in the bottle. Abacus, “Ninth Bottling”- 15 vintages Abacus, “Eighth Bottling”- 14 vintages release date December 1, 2007 released October 1, 2006 sold out
How to Read an Abacus
(1992-2006)
The Abacus, an ancient counting device, was chosen as this wine’s namesake. The wine is a “solera style” multiple vintage blend of every ZD Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon ever produced. The medallion attached to each bottle depicts an abacus that identifies the first and last vintages in the wine. The traditional abacus is divided into two parts, with five beads in the lower section and two in the upper section. Each lower bead is worth one unit, and each upper bead is worth five units. The beads are only counted when they are pushed against the crossbar which divides the abacus into its two sections. To read the abacus above, which depicts the first and last vintages in the ninth bottling of ZD’s Abacus (1992-2006), add the value of the beads above the crossbar to the value below for each row. There is a zero row separating the two dates.